Now that the dust has settled and two new consoles have been announced, the GameFans crew sits down to discuss what happened during E3 and who gave the best performance when it comes to showing off the thing that matters most: games. We also have a discussion about some of our favorite things we played on the show floor and what we’re looking forward to most for the next generation.

Where are previous two podcasts focused on E3 predictions and what we expected to see, this one serves as a great wrap up for last week and what’s coming in the future. If you have any questions, comments, or want us to talk about a specific topic on the podcast, hit us up at podcast@gamefans.com.

I think Sony had a good presentation and their new console looks promising. I think Nintendo won in terms of games though. Not that the Wii U is not a good console or because it is arguably less powerful than the PS4, it is just that the console is not new to E3 since it was announced last year.

So I say both Sony and Nintendo won but no clear winner IMO, just a clear loser.

Magnus Eriksson

Nintendo did good. But Sony did better, and yet Nintendo COULD have been better. Metroid, Zelda U, Star Fox or the like would have given a shared first IMO. But this time Sony where the best.

I’ll agree to that a little bit. I think they should have given a tease on Zelda as it is in development. Metroid and Star Fox are not in development yet though.

One thing that could have made it better would to say either Super Smash Bros. or Mario Kart 8 was being released this fall. Definitely not both and Super Mario 3D world looks fun and all but will not have the impact those other two games will.

Billy_Perry

Yeah I agree, they should have teased the new Zelda. Like Halo 5 is a long way off, and they showed just a small tease just to get people hyped, Nintendo should have done the same.
The joke is, they were going to show it, but they decided not to. That to me just seems silly.

mojack411

Well at the very least, like has been said in the past, Nintendo has been trending lately towards not showing a whole lot at E3 and opting for doing so in their Nintendo Directs instead. Last year we got a ND 2 weeks after E3 with some pretty big announcements. We may get something similar again this year complete with Zelda U teaser.

jay

That’s pointless. Why do you wanna see a screen that says “Zelda 2015”. It wouldn’t have changed the fact that it’s in development.

Billy_Perry

Well, for many reasons, first of all we may get a name, and we will mot certainly get its art style. Those two things on their own would have put Nintendo as the winners of E3 this year in my book, the first look at the HD Zelda would have been HUGE in the industry. One of most successful series of all time, that often has a standard of its own because its games are constantly SO stellar, to finally see with beautiful graphics, would be a huge thing for the industry.

Nintendo would have won E3 in my opinion if they had done that, instead they fall just short, just behind Sony.

jay

That’s YOUR book, and honestly your book doesn’t matter in the gaming media. Neither does mine.

I agree that gameplay etc. would have been cool, but you were referencing Halo 5 which was stupid and pointless.
What you’re describing is far different than that stupid trailer. You made it seem like you wanted something like that Skyward Sword reveal image, which was also pointless.

In my book sony had a terrible predictable, reps lying to your face E3.

Hardly anything was exclusive and they snuck in the pay to play online by announcing the ability to play used games. Something my Wii and ps2 could do.

The xbone got so much flack for their ugly vcr design yet the ps4 looks like an xbox TWO. Just as ugly, just as bulky.

Sony played it well, but they’re conference was terrible after the fact. I’ll give it a few months then people will realise how crappy their conference was.

Magnus Eriksson

True

jay

EVERY E3 I hear someone complain about how Nintendo didn’t show all their unfinished games.

Yet everyone was pissed at the “2014” dates.

Magnus Eriksson

And you are complaining over complains.

But the complains over 2014 is valid. Nintendo had some years to get this out earlier, but failed to do so. And before downvoting, this is Nintendos own words.

Well I can say I was not pissed that Mario Kart and Smash Bros were spring 2014 but I was hoping to play Mario Kart this fall. I can wait longer though. I am sure I will have plenty to play until then.

As far as Zelda goes I think yes a small teaser would have been nice even though the game is over a year away. I am hoping it will be a fall 2014 release or early 2015 at the latest.

Billy_Perry

I concur with this. Sums up my exact thoughts.

Levi Johansen

Nintendo could have showed alot of already-announced games, like Game & Warioa and Super Luigi U. Also, there was no mention of Yoshis Yarn.

They also concidered showing Zelda U, but decided not to do it because it won’t be done for too long anyway and we have Wind Waker.

With all of that, Nintendo would have won, but then they would have had nothing for the next Nintendo Direct, which is a very important one as well.

That is a very valid point. Maybe they could have used a teaser or 2 and promoted Nintendo Direct

jay

1st off E3 isn’t a competition. It only starts flame wars that in the end don’t matter.

2nd What ruined Nintendo is their stupid super early reveals. They revealed Smash4 by not showing any footage in 2012 just speaking about it.

What they should have done is held back the Smash4 announcements until E3 2013.

Imagine Iwata saying “We have one new game to show you”.

Then BAM people realize it’s Smash Bros for 3Ds and Wii U for the FIRST TIME. That would have gotten the biggest reaction possible.

What people are requesting about Zelda U will only ruin the element of surprise. I find it ironic that people wanna know EVERY single thing now, then they complain later that everything they saw they already knew about /facepalm

Levi Johansen

I agree, waiting with Zelda U is a smart move, and they should have done it with Smash4.

When they told about Smash4, I was sure it would be a 2013 game, but it’s a 2014… if they revealed it at E3 this year, it would have made so much more sense and the wait would be bearable.

But I think Nintendo was a little optimistic, they might have planned to release it in 2013, like with ZeldaU.

jay

Yeah Nintendo does this sometimes. I think it was to secure a few Wii U preorders to be honest.

But it always backfires.

Another note, if Nintendo saw E3 like a competition like all these fanboys do then

A) Why didnt they rent a conference room?

B) Why did they hold back Zelda and who knows how many other games they’re working on?

Levi Johansen

Nintendo doesn’t see it as a competition because it really is not.

They made these decisions because they thought they would be able to reach more people by doing so. I believe they succeeded, the demos at Best Buy was a brilliant move.

Holding Zelda back is just to have a trumph card if things go poorly round christmas.

–

I personally see it as a competition, mostly between the fans though. The competition is kinda like this: which fanbase has the most reason to be excited?

Most people say Sony won, but many of the awesome games for PS4 are multiplatform, like Watch Dogs. Nintendo fans have more to be excited about in my mind.

One might also judge the winner by who sells the most games/systems the following 6 months. Sony will probably win that one.

jay

I think MS did Waaaayyy better than Sony.

Sony’s conference was so boring and predictable I was falling asleep literally.

Now I’m not saying I like the xbox one. I just enjoyed the stupid cgi in ms’ conference more than the cgi in sony’s.

Nintendo was the only one to use all gameplay in every game.

bizzy gie

Actually, Wii U was announced 2 years ago at E3 2011.

Magnus Eriksson

Three years to prepare. We’re getting the new Zelda in 2017.

bizzy gie

*2015

jay

sony showed a bunch of multiplats and played it off like they were exclusive. They didn’t wanna show gameplay either, which has been a playstation tradition since the ps1.

As far as graphics go various reports said Mario Kart 8 had the best looking graphics which further proves that the gap between Wii U and its competitors is far smaller than EA wants you to believe.

“As far as graphics go various reports said Mario Kart 8 had the best
looking graphics which further proves that the gap between Wii U and its
competitors is far smaller than EA wants you to believe.” ~@casualJay:disqus

This I know… WHen I said teaser I did not mean gameplay.. Maybe a nice trailer that is not necessarily something from the game. Just to remind people that the most Epic Zelda Game Ever is coming.

sdmac200600

1) Sony For customer satisfaction as the costumer is always rights 2) Nintendo for the big hitters 3) Microsoft for bringing games but the bullshit policies they have killed them.

jay

Really?? Because sony announced that you can lend games to friends?

Why doesn’t the Wii U or hell the ps3 get praise for this ancient feature?

sdmac200600

Uh no. They were first because overall, gamers were more pleased with Sony’s conference than microsoft’s and Nintendo’s. That’s a fact. As I said in my other comment. The customer is always right.

jay

All those multiplats? Again my ps2 can play used games. There is NOTHING revolutionary about a feature that has been consistent in every console since the pong machines.

Dude I’ve been watching E3’s since the 90’s and what may impress you may get a smirk from me.

If anybody is revolutionary it’s ms with charging for used games. A first in the industry. I HATE that but hey, every other console in history can play used games.

sdmac200600

I never said anything was revolutionary…………….I said the gamers were the most satisfied with Sony’s conference. I said nothing about used games and I said nothing about multiplats. You cannot deny the fact that Sony’s E3 overall was the most appealing to gamers dude. I guess I need to have a bias Nintendo towards Nintendo whenever I post on a Nintendo oriented website. I’m not a blind follower of Nintendo. I see things for what they are and what they aren’t. No shit Sony showed nothing spectacular at their conference but that doesn’t mean shit when their conference was the most well-received out of all three.

XroyD

2 winners : One loser!

Adrian

Microsoft won, for making Nintendo and Sony look better.

KosmoCrisis

Ha ha! I see what you did there!

David Noble

The drop in the video game market:
Nintendo: “We’re not going to advertise this time!”
Sony: “We’re not going to come up with any new ideas of our own!”
Microsoft: “Heck, we’re not gonna do anything at all!”
And it all went downhill from there.

Joseph Parsons

fps lol ther so out of dat

Selina Kyle

The gamers won, but our wallets lost. Simple as that.

KosmoCrisis

This may be the most true of all. At least everything isn’t coming out at once. But 2014, a lot of broke gamers will not be signing up for athletic programs.

Guhtere

For me it’s
1. Sony
2. Nintendo
And as for Microsoft, they were so bad that they didn’t even qualify for this list.

KosmoCrisis

It seems that overall you guys are 60/40 about who is first place, Sony. But everyone agrees that Microsoft comes in last. But they are trying so hard! Didn’t they say their press conference was going to destroy Sony’s? Backfire statement of the year.

jay

Yeah but Nintendo never jumps into E3 ready for some fanboy battle. They announce what they have to and move on.

Otherwise we would have rented a conference room, revealed Zelda and tons of other games.

BUT E3 is NOT a competition and Nintendo knows this.

Alexander Kleinwechter

Actually, i dont know why people argue and discuss over ”who won e3”, ”who won the console war”. Im sick of all these haters. Cant we all just play those games we think are fun and enjoy. I for once am not gonna particapate in these endless and meaningless discussions.

jay

DEAD ON.

If that’s you in the avatar you’re VERY mature for your age.

oontz

but on this site people always would say the wiiu is going to “win” this generation. What happened? Nothing to back your words up with now that you’ve seen what sony and ms are bringing to the table?

darkmark

Sony and Nintendo did awesome, however Microsoft was sad conference because they dissappointed their fans.

jay

I agree but ms had some good exclusives. sony had almost none.

jay

E3 is NOT a competition.

Levi Johansen

Then how come Sony won?

Jamie Clabon

he’s saying no one won

jay

These articles are like the pachter articles. They mean nothing but are good at stirring hate.

jay

Oh yeah they did?

Where’s the award then?

oontz

The sold out pre-orders around the world?

Levi Johansen

It is not a competition, but at the same time it is.
It’s like Star Wars vs Star Trek – Not a competition, but it still is…

Star Trek is the absolute winner BTW

Elem187

Can I get the cliff notes?

Elem187

I think Sony did marginally better than Microsoft…. as a PC gamer, neither company wowed me with their software.. The multiplat games were far more impressive than the exclusives… Sony now charging for Multiplayer, and every single Sony exclusive ran at 30fps… come on, even Microsoft had 2 titles reach 60fps.

Microsoft xBoned is a damned joke, do I even need to explain further?
The multiplats were the best thing about E3, but all of them are coming to PC where I can play them in the vision the developer intended without compromising like you will have on PS4/xBoned/Wii U (but I’ll probably get watch dogs on Wii U)

So out of the three platform makers, Nintendo won by being themselves, showing us up gameplay we wont get on any other platform… Sony/Microsoft showed us gameplay we can get on PC, or heck even PS3/360…. Basically “nextgen” is going to be exactly like last gen, but with a marginally prettier coat of paint.. count me out, PC/Wii U/3DS this gen for me.

jay

THANK YOU.

I don’t know why people thought all those ps4 games were exclusive. And their announcement about being able to play used games was facepalm worthy as the crowd cheered. I bet if Nintendo made the announcement during the Wii U reveal people would have laughed and shouted “DUH!!”

It’s a sad day in gaming when the ability to use games “wins” an e3 for a company.

Sidney Majurie

I always love the hypocrisy of you guys saying Mario Kart 8 needs to change and add this and yadda yadda yadda, but Infamous, Gran Turismo 6, Assasins Creed and on and on are just fine…

Scott IsMe

I was hoping (and will continue to do so) for something first person with a control scheme in the vein of Nintendo Land’s Metroid tech demo. It’s something I wasn’t intially wowed by, but once I stood from my couch to play I began to melt into a gooey pile of geeky drivel at all the possibilities.

It’s a fact that no other console can provide a *turn around in your living room* gameplay experience like Nintendo (for under $400) and I simply cannot wait until they or some other serious developer capitalizes on this feature in a reasonably mature and adrenaline pumping way.

Had they done that, they would have taken first for me. As for who actually won (given what was presented), I think that only time can tell…

Nyaria

Let me understand something, Sony winned the E3 by just saying their console will be able to share physical games AND showing FFXV (non-exclusive!)? Because they don’t have exclusives at all apart from the two of the non-talked launch titles and a lot of PS3 games, console that the PS4 will not even be directly compatible.

At least Nintendo and Microsoft did show what really matters: GAMES, a lot of exclusives and some really promising, if you, the so-called “hardcore” gamers were actually hardcore, if you care more for the looks and random stuff rather than games and direct retrocompatibility, then you’re not more than mere casuals who wants to be called “hardcore”, and the WiiU and XboxOne does have better things for casuals at the very end, too.

With that said, for me: Nintendo > Microsoft >>> Sony

Microsoft did really well, even great, but their faults on the console (specially the price, I must say, in those day there are selled more Digiltar Versions than Retail ones, so, their restrictions to the Retail ones are no more than a nostalgia outrage) made them to lose at Nintendo who made simiraly well. At worst scenary I could say they both reached #1.

oontz

Sony doesn’t have exclusive games? They have 13 first party studios that make GAMES only for sony systems. Do some research before running your mouth and while you’re at it buy a book of english grammar rules. Win is an irregular verb, and its past tense form is won. Just an FYI

Nyaria

We’re talking about THIS E3 (2013), I don’t doubt that maybe (or maybe not) on the future Sony will work more and good exclusives, but at the moment, the console will have for it’s first year just Knack, Driveclub, Kill Zone: Shadow Fall and… Super Stardust HD, great start. When Sony announce the titles that their13 first party studios are making for the PS4 at the E3 2014, you’re gonna have a point, but for this E3, they din’t have exclusives at all for the PS4. Just like Nintendo made with the WiiU at not having launch games at all apart from Nintendo Land.

Of course, by other hand I seen a lot of cool stuff for the PS3, almost all the exclusives that din’t existed at all during the PS3 lifespan, but they completely discarded the PSVita, they din’t even announce a single thing about the Vita.

oontz

Funny since many of the Nintendo games anounced don’t come out till 2014 either, hmmmmm. Again not knowing what you’re talking about before talking. Here is a quick quote about Sony VITA @ E3 from IGN, “Vita had a surprisingly large footprint at Sony’s booth, with well over 30 games being represented from first-party studios, third-party publishers and indie developers alike. “

Petri

Even if Xbox could cure cancer and make world peace,
and PlayStation would butt-rape you every night.
I would still choose PlayStation.

But with that said, I’m completely happy with my Wii U for now.

InsomniZac

Whoever is speaking on behalf of xboxone Daily is incredibly annoying in every podcast you all do. Incredibly. Annoying.

daniel3

Sony won.

And here is why I think they did:

Imagine you have Natalie Portman (Nintendo’s franchises) coming to your Halloween party (e3). Everyone expects her to wear a “princess Leia gold bikini” or something hot like that, but instead she arrives wearing a “Darth Vader” suit… with the mask on…

She is still Natalie Portman, one of the most beautiful women on earth, but almost no one can tell she is a cute girl behind that dark “Vader mask”…

That’s what I feel happend to Nintendo, cause they have AWESOME upcoming games (Mario 3D and Kart, Smash, Donkey, Pokemon, Zelda) which could have shined waaay more than they did but… they had to hide behind a mask and skip the BIG PRESS CONFERENCE …. and even in their “alternative way” (the nintendo directs) they didn’t share much information… … … : /

Yeah…still… awesome trailers… awesome demos… and the Bestbuy idea Rocked so much in America! … but for the rest of the world? the people who couldn’t be at e3? why not more information about games like “A Link Between Worlds” (its a brand new Zelda, for God’s sake! … timeline, gameplay, screenshots, story, trailers?) … why not showing more new Pokemon from X and Y? (at least the evolutions of the 3 starters…) why not talkning about the Wii U virtual console GBA and GC games? Why not making more trailers of those awesome Wii U and 3Ds upcoming games, more developer interviews? Why those interviews focused only on the Wii U and not on the 3DS? (smash bros aside) …

So yeah, Natalie Portman showed up to the party, and she took of her mask for a couple of seconds to let us see her cute face so we could dream and get lost in her beauty for a bit, but overall she spent the whole time hidden eating chips in a dark isolated corner while Miley Cyrus (Sony) and Justin Beaver (Microsoft) took all the attention doing a pole dance to Gangnam Style while wearing “gold bikins” … (on which Justin looked… I don’t even wanna picture it… : O … bloody hell that BAD… hehe)

So yeah… Sony won… 😉

P.S: For the record and for the trolls, Im 100% a Nintendo fan, since the good old NES days, I’ve never even owned or wanted a Sega nor a Sony or Microsoft console. I loved the games showed on this E3 and im totally gonna get them but I only wish nintendo had done better advertising of their AWESOME new software…

Nintendofreak

i believe it doesnt make shit of difference…. everyone knows if u want shooter go xbox, if u want open worlds n shooter go ps, if u want the rest go nintendo.. no matter what u say in the eyes of different people the winner is the one u believe that lost

Hobo

Nothing was worst than Nintendo. Why can’t anybody admit that??

Relick

Because it wasn’t?

The Microsoft conference was riddled with problems, the same games as last year and the only heavy hitter (Halo 5) wasn’t even announced, just teased.

Not to mention the absolutely appalling PR which has done a better job of advertising the worst bits about the XBone (online once a day, terrible trade in policy, TV focus) and failing to mention the actual good bits (the xbox one family – look up how it works).

As with any E3 also, there are big expectations and everyone gets disappointed. Nintendo played it well by doing a Direct because there isn’t as much hype and stigma associated with a Direct as there is with a conference, so relatively it looks better to most people than the conferences. And anything that gets people to look at Nintendo in a good light is good PR.

Hobo

Nintendo made announcement about games that we already knew were coming out, with less than impressive release date. Took 5min to talk about a remake of wind waker, at least talk about a new Zelda. Smash was nice but so predictable, and at last E3 they said they were already working on it, it doesn’t look like the game was worked on for 1 years. X, monolith’s project was nice, but that was the same trailler from before. How is that even interesting. At least microsoft showed some great NEW software.

Honestly that’s not even the worst part.

What really killed it for me was the fact that Nintendo never gave us a good reason why the wii u gamepad exist. All the games up to date and the games they showed at E3 had no use for the gamepad whatsoever except pikmin 3 and shigeru miyamoto said the best experience was with the wiimote and nunchuck. I’m sure that nintendo doesn’t know why that controller exist anymore.

Sony was first(No question), Microsoft second(Because of DRM), Nintendo is far behind in third position.

Relick

If it was just DRM for the XBone, I’d still be considering getting it. It’s not just DRM though. It is:

* DRM on everything – forget taking your gamertag or your games round a friends house because you WON’T be able to take them back home. Anti consumer again.

* Always online (once a day is the same thing) – anti consumer for people without consistent connections.

* Always on Kinect – anti consumer because the customer may not want it and can be used as a spy device (especially considering MS’s recent patent).

* TV focus – anti consumer because it ‘justifies’ having a higher price in order to get the same things that your TV does already – except you have to pay for a XBox Live Gold account on top of it..

These aren’t necessarily big things to some people, for example I don’t mind always online as I AM always online anyway. I can stomach the TV focus because I’ll be paying Gold for Halo online anyway. I am against these two out of principle because I know there are people who cannot deal with them.

However, I am always taking my gamertag and games round my friends – I won’t be able to do that any more. Also I didn’t want a Kinect for my 360, I don’t want it for the Xbone either – the fact it is compulsory is disgusting.

On the other hand, Nintendo’s only dodgy business practice so far has been region-locking but this affects so few people I can’t really be against it.

Relick

I can agree with you though that Nintendo don’t know what the controller is for. It doesn’t bother me though, because I didn’t get the console for the controller, I got it for Nintendo games – as I’m sure pretty much everyone else who got it did.

So what if Smash Bros. was expected?
It is one of if not the biggest franchise among Nintendo fans so I have no idea what the problem is.

I think the main difference between me and you is that I don’t want to be surprised for the sake of being surprised – I want good games. You don’t care how good the game is (Ryse looks crap) as long as it’s a surprise. I think Smash Bros. is a good game. Deal with it.

Hobo

Smash and Zelda are my favorite franchise ever. Do I think that the new smash gave Nintendo a second place at E3 2013, I’m leveled headed enough to understand that it really didn’t. And please don’t assume that I don’t like good games. I’m a true gamer,and I have a hard time believing that any real gamer could say nintendo won or placed second. Unless they are ignorant, or don’t play a great range of games. I’m expecting a lot from nintendo(well not anymore), You and 90% of the people on this site are satisfied with what very little they gave us at E3.

pokemon (average news)
Mario kart(looks great,still ain’t no savior)
Wii U party (I wouldn’t play it for free)
Zelda wind waker remake (boring news,I’d rather have that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyazYYev7Nw,nobody)
wonderful 101(average)
Donkey Kong (shitty news,this is a game that nintendo can make fast and have a lot of money with)
sonic lost world(a good exclusive,but there too stupid to show it)
X(only A game they showed)
bayonetta(average,and I’m sure most nintendo fans didn’t play the first one)
Mario 3d whatever(a 3DS upgrade)
Smash(the trailler was nice)

anybody who’s satisfied with this is dumb

Relick

Looking past the insults, I’ll address what you said:

I see now why I’m taking a different view point to you. Because you’re looking at how much you’d enjoy the game yourself, and basing whether Nintendo beat other companies based on the experience you would have, and how little new things Nintendo showed us. And I completely understand, that makes sense. If I went by this basis, then I’d /still/ have a different view point to you but only because we have different tastes in games.

On the other hand, I’m actually looking at this from a business point of view. Which company attracted the most potential customers? The awful PR by Microsoft will be extremely damaging to initial sales, although I think it will pick up momentum. However the conference was riddled with problems and many people (including me) are not even considering an Xbox One any more.

Sony, conversely, had a decent conference and took every opportunity to make fun of Microsoft (further solidifying each other’s positions). I do think that Sony and Microsoft both lacked a large number of exclusives though – most were multi-platform on both consoles. This will damage both console’s launches just as it damaged the WiiU’s launch as people ask ‘Why should I get this console at all?’

Nintendo had a slow paced, non-theatrical live stream and only showed off 4 new games, 3 of which were expected. The stream constantly went down forcing people to stop watching. So in this part, there presentation was as bad as Microsoft’s problems. However, pretty much every one of the 40ish games they showed were exclusives. That’s one better than the other two consoles. Also, a new Super Mario game was expected, but nobody expected it to be 3D World. It may not look fun to you (and I think it doesn’t look very good either) but Super Mario SELLS, and from a business point of view it would be stupid NOT to announce the 3D Mario during the Direct. Then there was Mario Kart, that also was expected but I think Mario Kart has been within the top 3 best sellers on Nintendo’s last few consoles so once again, it made sense to announce it now. Smash Bros. was even announced before the Direct, yet once again, it made sense. Business sense. Donkey Kong you said yourself makes them a quick buck – the more of these large sellers they can announce now, the more WiiUs they will sell.

The Best Buy events were also excellent PR and help make up for the problems with the stream.

All together, that’s why I think – from a business view (which is what E3 is about as its a business and press expo, not consumer expo.) Sony won, Nintendo second and Microsoft last. Sony have the better console, Nintendo have the better software, and Microsoft has the worst PR. Simple as that.

I could go into whom I think won simply on whether I think the games look good or not but that has absolutely no bearing in the real world so there’d be no point in doing so.

“I have a hard time believing that any real gamer could say nintendo won or placed second.”
Although I really should have stopped talking to you after you said this, because this says to me that you are unable to comprehend differing points of view. If I am wrong, please correct me, and I do hope that I am wrong.

Scott IsMe

These guys called it. Microsoft just reversed their two major issues: no 24-hour connect policy and the freedom to trade used games.

Makes me truly wonder if they just wanted the press coverage to “get everyone talking.” Ain’t no press like a controversy.